18.5.10

“In the house of the voice of Maria Callas”

“In the house of the voice of Maria Callas” is a lovely poem by Steve Orlen, part of the collection This Particular Eternity (2001).

It’s probably unwise (and definitely illegal) for me to reproduce the poem in its entirety, but I offer you its final lines.
…Maria Callas is dead,
Although the full lips and slanting eyes
And flaring nostrils of her voice resurrect
Dramas we are able to imagine in this parlor
On evenings like this one, adding some color,
Adding some order. Of whom it was said:
She could imagine almost anything and give voice to it.

2 comments:

  1. What a beautiful poem! I liked it very much.

    I also have some (two or three) poems about Callas, but they are in Portuguese... Once I made a quick translation into English for one of them, but I'd have to review it and write an "official" English version.

    (I still have to make comments on some older posts, but I couldn't. I'll try to do it today or tomorrow, ok?)

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  2. Dear José Luiz: You are a love! Make your comments whenever you can. It is lovely to have such an excellent reader.

    The poem as a whole is even more beautiful. I went back and forth between using the passage cited and using the incipit.

    Are the poems by you? I would love to read them

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